Two Books Worth Reading!!

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Several weeks ago, I shared with you some goals that I have for this year. I have to be honest…I’m not doing very well with most of them. I have not quit on any of them; I’m just not accomplishing what I would like to. On the positive side of my goals, I am reading more now than I ever have in my life. I’m keeping up with reading the Bible every day so that for the second year in a row, I’ll read the Bible through. I also have completed six other books so far. As I have stated in the past, this is a major accomplishment for me. I know people who are reading a book every couple of days. Many people have more than one book going at a time, which sounds crazy to me since I have a hard time reading just one book. But maybe I will get to that point in the future. I am reading a book every couple of weeks right now. Who knows if my speed will increase throughout the year? I guess we will just have to wait and see.

If You Want To Walk on WaterIn A PitI would like to introduce you to two of the books that I recently completed: In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson and If You Want To Walk On Water, You Have To Get Out Of The Boat by John Ortberg. Both of these books are based on biblical stories about two men who were willing to go against all odds and accomplish something great in their lives. In A Pit… is about a obscure man in the Old Testament that becomes King David’s chief body guard as well as the leader of Israel’s army. The first introduction of Benaiah is found in 2 Samuel 23:20-21. The Bible does not tell a lot about Benaiah except he was fearless when it came to battle and lions.

The second book is based on a much more familiar person in the New Testament — Peter. The book is based on the time when Jesus walked on the water and Peter joined Him. Peter actually walked on the water with Jesus for a period of time before the problems arose. The story is found in Matthew 14:22-33.

Both of the books challenge the reader to evaluate their concept of God and His ability to handle situations that arise in life. Is God present in your life? Does He care about what you are going through? Is He big enough to handle the fiercest “lion” that you might come across? Can The Creator of the Seas calm any storm that is raging across the storms of your life? All of these questions have to be answered before you are able to fight the lions or walk on the water. Too many times, a person evaluates the situation by the standard of their own abilities. Do you know of anyone that has walked on water? I have gone to the beach of the Gulf of Mexico many times in my life. I grew up just miles from the Gulf. Every time I began to walk out into the surf, my feet would always stay on the sandy bottom of the gulf…not one time did I ever walk on a wave. Honestly, I never thought about the idea of walking out on the water. I just knew that I could not ever do that. Do you really think that Peter had an idea of walking on the water? I believe that he might have even thought about just swimming to where Jesus was. After all, he was a fisherman. He grew up on the Sea of Galilee and I am sure that he went swimming just to cool off on hot afternoons after fishing all day. Yet when he stepped out of that boat, he did not sink. His feet stayed on what felt like solid ground. John Ortberg paints a picture of Peter walking on the water that is very clear to the reader, like you are sitting in the boat with the 11 other disciples watching in disbelief of what is taking place.

Mark Batterson also illustrates the events of Benaiah chasing the lion into a pit in such a way that you are able to visualize the events of that infamous day in his life. It was the beginning of a story of him becoming a great warrior in King David’s army. It all began with an event of faith and courage.

I wonder what God is asking you to do that would cause you to be challenged to do something out of the ordinary for you. I know that I feel on many occasions that I am walking on water in this ministry. Most of the time, I’m sinking and therefore crying out to Jesus to “save me.” He always picks me up and puts me back on solid ground. He then asks me about my faith in Him and His abilities. Do I have the courage to actually chase a lion? Probably–if he is the Cowardly Lion. I am not sure what I would do if he were a real lion. Do I believe God can give me strength to chase, capture, and kill the lions that are placed in my path of life? I DO believe. Now, will I put that belief into practice?

What about you? Do you believe?

 

The links are amazon affiliate links.  If you buy the books through the links, I get a portion.

Does God Answer Prayer with Sin?

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A young couple had been married for several years and they had reached a point that they were not satisfies in their marriage.  Something was missing.  They had children, owned their house, and drove fairly nice cars.  Each had jobs that kept them busy and then they chased kids during the evening.  They had very full lives but still there was something missing!!  The wife began to pray about having a better husband.  See, her husband said he was a Christian, but each Sunday he chose to stay home rather than go to church.  He worked most Saturdays and so Sunday was the only day he could sleep in or do whatever “he wanted to do.”  This attitude left his wife wanting more in the relationship.  The husband would argue with her that he was working so much to provide for her needs as well as the kids needs.  Those arguments still left her wanting more.  He would just get angry and go out to the shop or work in the yard.  He was a good dad, most of the time.  He went to the kids events, when he could.  He helped around the house, he thought.  He was a good provider and that should be enough.  The wife continued to pray for a better husband.  One day she was talking with a man at her work.  He was married and faithful to church.  She started thinking that she wanted a husband like this man, which the more they talked she decided she wanted this man.  What she didn’t realize was that he too was going through some struggles at home and he was looking for more.  She began to believe that this was God’s will for them both to divorce their spouses and marry each other.

I could go on with this story.  Many of you have heard it before or even could write a better version. I begin with this story today in order to address a question that I believe many Christians have answered incorrectly…Does God answer our prayers with sin?  Your immediate response to this question should be a resounding “NO,” yet the scenario mentioned above is far too common in the church.  Why do we even consider such a thing as God answering our prayers with an answer that leads us to sin?  Here are a few suggestions as to why.

  • People have the wrong idea of God.  We understand that God is loving, merciful, and full of grace.  We concentrate on those aspects of God.  (I am very thankful for the grace and mercy He shows me daily.)  We forget that God is equally as just, holy, and righteous.  We also do not wrong to think about the wrath of God.  We have put God in a box that mostly reflects what we would like in a god.  We do not see God as who He really is.
  • People are selfish.  I know that this is an obvious statement.  We allow our selfishness to control our thoughts and our actions.  In our selfishness, we are also impatient when it comes to waiting on God to answer our prayers in His timing.  When we pray for God to change someone or our circumstances, we must allow Him to do His work.  Sometimes, God does things immediately while other times He works methodically which takes time.
  • People have their own idea of how the prayer is to be answered.  When we pray, do we want God’s solution or do we want God to bless our solution?  I know that Psalmist says that “God will give us the desires of our hearts.”  What people fail to realize is that there are conditions to that promise.  “Delight yourself in the Lord,” “Commit your way to the Lord,” and “Trust in Him” are the three conditions to the promise. (Psalms 37:4-5) When we are willing to follow the conditions, He is willing to give us the desires of our heart.  Not before.

The Bible says in James 1:13b “and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”  God has never tempted anyone to sin.  He would not answer a prayer with a sin.  When someone tells you that God has told them to do something that is sin, don’t believe them.  God will not and does not go against His Word at any time.  It is important that as we walk on our journey with God that we consider that God is wanting our lives to give Him glory and show His character to others.  We cannot do that if we give God credit for the sin in our lives.

Finding Hope

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Psalm 31:24 (NASB95)Image

24  Be strong and let your heart take courage,

All you who hope in the Lord.

Romans 15:13 (NASB95)

13  Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Recently I was talking with a man who had lost all hope for a future.  As I was listening to his blight, I began to feel his hopelessness.  Boy, I did not like that at all.  It just seemed the world was getting gloomier and gloomier.  As I was listening to him, I had to mentally picture the “Son” shining in my life.  My conversation with this man reminded me that so many people have lost sight of the Hope that is in Christ.

When a person has lost their hope, there are several steps that I have found to be very helpful when needing to “find my hope.”

  • Remember — The Israelites were instructed to erect stones in the middle of the Jordan River as they crossed over into the Promised Land.  The purpose of the stones was for the people to see them (not during the flood stage) and be reminded of what God had done for them.  I think that a person needs to set up some “stones” of what God has done in his/her life for times of remembering.  Writing them in a journal or in the back of a Bible helps keep them in a place that will be seen.
  • Repent — Again, using the Old Testament as a guide, the Israelites often would lose sight of God and turn to idols or their own wisdom.  Each time they took their focus off of God, He would allow calamities, bondage, and defeat to happen.  When they would turn back to God, He would require of them to Repent.  Repentance happens when a person realizes that he/she is going in the wrong direction and turns around to go in the opposite direction.  Repentance carries an attitude of brokenness and humility.  If hope is lost, it might be because the focus is on worry or on loss and not on God.  Repentance is needed.
  • Recite — The Israelites were told to recite the book of the law and to meditate on it.  There is power in the Word of God.  It is living and active, as well as being comforting and applicable.  I believe that it is important that a person memorizes scripture to be used in times of need.
  • Refocus — Paul tells the Philippian church to dwell on the things that are good.  It takes a great deal of effort to change focus, yet it is an exercise that is worth every bit of the effort.

As I have helped many people find the Hope that is in Christ, these steps have been extremely helpful.  I hope that you find them as helpful as I have.

I’m De HEAD!!

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HeadI’m De’ Head!!

 

 

I’ve heard men actually say that in counseling sessions.  I’ve had to laugh when someone has said that.  I thought for a minute that they would start beating their chest to prove their dominance.  I remember reading in a book that if you had to announce your headship, you weren’t the head.

1 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB95)

3  But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.

Ephesians 5:23 (NASB95)

23  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

These two verses are the two that point to the fact that a man is the head of his wife and therefore is responsible as such.  What does it mean for a man to be the head of his wife?

Here are a couple of thoughts about this Biblical principle.

  1. It is a God-given responsibility.  It does not say anything about the man being smarter or better than the wife.  It is a position that is given based on God’s order and design.
  2. This responsibility has a perfect example as Ephesians 5 says.  A man’s example of how to be the head is Jesus Christ.  You might be thinking that it is an impossibility to follow that example, so why try?  We try because it is what is best for our marriage as well as our relationship with God.
  3. This position can be misused and abused easily.  Many men try to dominate their wives which is not leading them.  Other men try to pacify their wives, which allows the wives to be the leaders.  Both of these are abuses/misuses of the position.

Let’s look at our example and how He interacted with the people He was sent to lead.

 

  1. Jesus was a servant.  The main stories of Jesus serving the disciples is found in John 13.  Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.  Understanding the humility of His actions is Feet Washingextremely important.  Jesus could have required someone else to do this because he was the master, yet he chose to do it himself.  As husbands we must be humble and be willing to serve as it is needed.
  2. Jesus was compassionate.  There are several examples of his compassion with people.  How he interacted with children, how he spoke with the “woman at the well,” how he was non-judgmental with the woman who anointed his feet with the oil and wiped his feet with her hair are a few of the examples that come to my mind this morning.  Husband, are you compassionate with your wife?  Do you care about her feelings, wants, and needs?
  3. Jesus was forgiving.  On several occasions Jesus told people that their sins were forgiven.  I guess the main story of that is found when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery for Jesus to judge.  If we are going to be the godly head of our wife, we have to have a forgiving spirit.  No one has a perfect wife (mine is close tho) and therefore, we must be willing to forgive.

I could continue to show things about Jesus that we are to follow His example in doing as we lead our wives, but I am not trying to write a book with this blog post.

I want to conclude with what I think is the most important aspect of following Jesus’ example of being the head.

Jesus spent time with The Father.  Jesus PrayingMen if we are going to lead our wives as we are supposed to, our relationship with God must be growing and dynamic.  Without spending time with God through prayer and reading His word, we will not know how to follow Jesus’ example and will not be a good head.

When we follow Our Lord’s example, we will NOT have to declare that we are the head. It will be obvious!!

Forgiveness and Repentance

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“My husband has been cheating on me and I do not know if I can ever forgive and forget such an act.”

“My wife talks to me with such disrespect and hatred that I’m not sure that I will ever be able to forgive and forget that.”

I know that I could continue with different scenarios, but I think you get the picture of how many people feel about forgiving someone.  It is a misnomer that someone would be able to forget something that has created such hurt in his/her life.  Since that is the fact, what does it mean for us to forgive someone?

Matthew 6:14-15 (NASB)
14 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

Every person I know wants to be forgiven by God, therefore they struggle with the idea that they have to forgive whomever has hurt them.

We read also about God’s forgiveness: Isaiah 43:25 (NASB)
25 “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.
Wow!!! God says He will not remember our sins and we are supposed to forgive as He has forgiven.

Ephesians 4:31-32 (NASB)
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (emphasis mine)

I want to add one more verse to the list of verses I’m using today because I think that we need to have a better understanding of how we are to forgive as well as then behave with the offender.

Luke 17:3 (NASB)
3 “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

This verse seems to be saying something different than the other verses.  I do know that the following verse tells us Luke 17:4 (NASB)
4 “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

In order to get a grasp on forgiving someone, we have to look at each principle that is given to us in scripture.

The first principle that we need to understand is that we have to have a attitude of forgiveness if we expect God to forgive us.  As Jesus is teaching us how to pray, he includes that we must forgive so that we can be forgiven.  How presumptuous it would be for us to expect God to forgive us if we are unwilling to forgive someone else.  If we harbor unforgiveness, then we are not willing to be Christ-like.  When we choose to be unChrist-like than God is not going to forgive us, until we repent.

The second principle that we need to understand is that God chooses not to remember our sins.  God cannot forget anything.  He knows every thing.  I believe that when God sees us, He is looking at us through the blood of Christ that has been applied to our lives through our salvation.  Therefore, He chooses to see the sacrifice and not the sin and He does not hold the sin against us because of what Jesus has done for us.  We can enter into God’s presence because of this.

What does this mean for us as we forgive others?  We will not forget what has occurred to us.  Our minds hold on to hurts and trauma as well as special events and details.  When someone has wronged us, it would then be unrealistic to ever believe that we would be able to forget.  What we must do is to make a conscious effort to not hold the wrong against the person who has wronged us.  This effort obviously would be easier for lesser offenses than it would be for something major.  If your spouse has committed adultery, then you will have to wrong harder at not “remember” the offense.

The third principle that we need to understand is that our ability to forgives comes from our understanding of how much God has forgiven us.  That understanding only comes when we truly consider the cost of our forgiveness in the first place.  We are in the days of celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus.  He had to leave heaven to be born into this world.  He lived a sinless life and then died a substutionary death for us so that the penalty of sin would be paid.  He then rose from the grave and then assended into heaven so that we could join Him one day.  Our forgiveness cost Jesus Christ every thing.  When we forgive others, we must be willing to “pay” a price.

The final principle that I believe is important for us to understand about forgiveness is that true forgiveness cannot come without repentance.  Dr. Ronald Hawkins wrote that forgiveness without repentance is cheap.  (Totally Sufficient, pg. 213)  The word repent means to do an about face and go the other direction.  Repentance carries with it an attitude of humility and a willingness to follow the guidelines that are in place.  When forgiveness is offered without repentance, the offender will continue to abuse or misuse the offended.  In salvation, we have the ultimate forgiveness.  Our relationship with God is secure because all of our sins (past, present, and future) are forgiven.  But we are told in scripture to repent and to ask for God’s forgiveness. (I John 1:9)  When we sin after our salvation, the fellowship with God is broken and we must repent in order for Him to restore that fellowship.  The same is true with people around us.  The true fellowship of the intimate relationship of marriage or family can only be sustained when there is repentance along with forgiveness.  When there is repentance, trust can be rebuilt and reconciliation can take place.  Without repentance, the relationship is void of those qualities.

We must be forgiving people.  We must live with an attitude of forgiveness.  We also are told by Christ that we can expect repentance for true forgiveness to be given.

Capturing Your Thoughts

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2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (NASB)
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

Have you ever considered how to take a thought captive?  For many of us, our thoughts seem to run rampant without any control what so ever.  I know that many people have told me that they just could not turn their thoughts off.  Once a person starts thinking about something or worrying about something, it appears to be impossible to stop the flood of negative thoughts.  There are times that flood of negative thoughts overtakes by mind and submerges everything I know to be true in Christ.  So as I write this, I am not saying that I have complete control of my thoughts or that I never sin in my thoughts.  What I want to present is the principle of taking our thoughts captive and honoring God with them.

Our soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions.  Those three aspects of a person are what God wants to develop into our character while Satan wants to tear us down at the same time.  All temptation fits in these three areas.  We might understand it better if we quote 1 John 2:16 (NASB)
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

You see Satan wants to use the world system to keep us from living in the Freedom that God offers us through Christ Jesus.

So if we understand this principle and the significance of how Satan tempts us through what we think, what we do, and how we feel, it is vitally important that we grasp the concept of capturing our thoughts toward the obedience of Christ.

How do we accomplish this feat?  We are bombarded with images, words, and ideas all day long.  Are we careful to make sure that we listen to music that is edifying and not negative or down right sinful?  I know that I do not listen to a lot of music while I’m in my car. (I listen to sports talk radio, mostly.)  But when I do listen to music, I listen to Christian music.  In my office, I have Christian music playing all day.  I find it to be refreshing and edifying for me as well as whomever comes in through out the day.

The second area that is very important is what do we watch on the television.  I am not trying to tell you that I do not watch TV, because that would be a lie.  I am not trying to tell you what shows to watch, because that would be presumptuous.  I am telling you that what you watch on TV can create images in your mind that keep you from living in freedom.  If you are watching shows that are violent or full of sexual innuendo or degrading to Christians, you might have a difficult time believing the truth of who God wants you to be.

Another area that I want to address today is the area of conversation.  How do you speak to people and how do they speak to you?   If people close to you are always putting you down, then you will have a very difficult time believing the truth of God’s Word.  It is important for us to realize how important our words are to others.  Proverbs 18:21 (NASB)
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.  Our family hears what we say, and it can create deep wounds in their soul as well as in their spirit if we are not careful.  We need to be diligent in being encouragers for the people around us daily.

Finally, we truly need to concentrate on scripture.  Many of the verses that I have memorized, I memorized as a young boy in Sunday School, Discipleship Training, or Vacation Bible School.  I believe we need to continue to work on learning new scriptures and allowing those scriptures to transform for hearts along with our minds, which can change our actions.

When you think about it, capturing our thoughts include preparing ourselves to live a Godly life as well as practicing daily.  If we don’t practice, we will not be very good at it and then we will not be able to live victoriously.

Acceptance vs. Rejection Principle Pt. 2

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Ephesians 4:32 (HCSB) And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

I realize that it has almost a month since I have posted a blog.  I started with a discussion on Rejection in my last offering and I want to conclude today with how we are to deal with rejection.  First let me summarize part one of this principle of Acceptance vs. Rejection.  I believe from a spiritual standpoint that most depression is caused by rejection.  That rejection can be either real or perceived.  Either way, the rejection always hurts the one that feels it.  Rejection begins a spiraling fall toward depression.  There are several steps on this staircase but the bottom is always depression.  I hope that you will read the remainder of that blog from two weeks ago to fill in the steps of the process.

Let me ask you a couple of questions.  What do our doctors do when we begin to talk about depression?  Most doctors, if not all of them, will prescribe some form of medication to help our moods.  There are many different medications that have the specific job of helping with depression.  There are even new medications to help some of the older medications to work more effectively.  http://www.abilify.com is a website that even gives the names of the medications Abilify works with.  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3434486.ece and http://www.helpguide.org/mental/medications_depression.htm are two articles that indicate studies that antidepressants are not always effective to treat depression.  Now again, I am neither a doctor nor a clinical psychologist.  I am a pastoral counselor.  I want to help people experience relief from their depression from a biblical standpoint.  If you are on any medication, please do not quit it without talking to your doctor first.  I thank God for the medication that is out there.  I want you to know that I believe that medication is a gift from God.  But I want to emphasize that it is only a tool to help mask the hurt or the symptoms of the depression.  It is not a cure.

Since the medication that is prescribed is not a cure, I want to offer a solution to the hurt that can lead to depression.  Forgiveness. Now I know that might sound like a simple conclusion on the surface, but do we truly understand the biblical view of forgiveness.  When we understand that, we will be well on our way to experiencing freedom from that rejection.

Forgiveness needs to be understood.

1.  It is not for-getting.

2.  You don’t have to feel good about the offender.

3.  You should not wait till you feel like forgiving.

4.  Two Parts of Forgiveness:

a. Decisional

b. Emotional

“Whatever your situation, whatever has happened in your past, remember that you are the loser if you do not deal with an unforgiving spirit.  And the people around you suffer, too.  You have within you the power to forgive, to be healed, and to be set free to live your life to the fullest.”  Charles Stanley

God’s Example of Forgiveness

  1. God’s love has no limits.
  2. God’s love is patient.
  3. God is eager to express His love.
  4. God’s love is focused on the sinner, not the sin.
  5. God receives the sinner back into fellowship joyfully.

What happens when we don’t forgive

  1. We get hurt.
  2. We become confused.
  3. We look for detours.
  4. We dig a hole.
  5. We deny it.
  6. We become defeated.
  7. We become discouraged or depressed.

Three Ways to Know We have Forgiven

  1. Our negative feelings will disappear.
  2. We will find it much easier to accept the people who have hurt us w/o feeling the need to change them.
  3. Our concern about the needs of the other individuals will outweigh our concerns about what they did to us.

“Forgiveness is a process that can be painful and at times seem unending.  Whatever our pain, whatever our situation, we cannot afford to hold on to an unforgiving spirit another day.  We must get involved w/ the process of forgiving others and find out what it means to be really free.  If we will persevere and keep our eyes on the One who forgave us, it will be a liberating force like nothing else we have ever experienced.”  (Charles Stanley, Gift of Forgiveness, pg. 133)

To summarize the above, in order to truly forgive others, we have to accept the pain that has been caused by the rejection or the offense.  Then we have to decide what to do with that pain.  We can either hold on to it or we can let it go.  If we forgive, we let it go.  We do not hold the other person captive because of that offense.  We learn to see the person through the eyes of God, whom separates the sinner from his sin with His perfect love.  Only through the gift of God’s forgiveness can we forgive others.

I believe that once we learn to forgive others and rely on God’s acceptance, we have a totally different outlook on life.  We are able to see beyond the clouds of our rejection and see the clearing that God’s light and love provides.

One final thought on this subject I would like to offer you.  Many people who are on medication have no outlet for the emotions.  They are relying on the medication to do a miracle, but they can’t relate their feelings to anyone.  That is where counseling comes into play.  Our modern mental health philosophy in many circles is just to medicate.  We also need to be able to learn to express ourselves in productive ways.  This is where my profession of a pastoral counselor comes into play.  I am not advertising me per se…well maybe I am, but I am encouraging you to find someone you can talk to that will help you have a biblical perspective of your struggles.

Matthew 6:14-15 (HCSB) 14 “For if you forgive people their wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. 15 But if you don’t forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.

Hearing the Voice of God

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I have been reading The Barbarian Way by Erwin Raphael McManus which is an excellent book.  I realize that it was written a few years ago, but I just got a copy from a local bookstore to read with my son as a discipleship tool.  I was hoping that God would use the book in his life to help him in his walk with the Lord.  God allowed me to think that I was getting the book for him…HA!  God wanted me to read the book to challenge me in so many areas of my life it is not even funny.  God is like that, isn’t He?  He leads you to help someone else, all the while wanting to teach you something new or to convict you of sin in your own life or even to cause you to move in a new direction.

The one area that truly captured my attention while reading Dr. McManus’ book was a discussion that he had with his son about hearing the voice of God.  The reason this passage of the book caught my attention is that so many people have asked me about this subject over the years in counseling or just in the ministry.

This past weekend in our Bible study class, we read a passage in Mark where God spoke audibly about Jesus to Peter, James, and John.  I know that Moses spent forty days on top of Mount Sinai conversing with God the entire time.  Adam and Eve had the privilege of communing with God in the Garden each day.  Abraham had strict instructions from God on several occasions, which I believe came from audible conversations.  In the Old Testament, it seems that God spoke audibly where now He doesn’t.  But the major difference is that we have the Holy Spirit residing in us, while the Spirit of God rested on people during the days before Christ’s ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.  The dynamics of our relationships with God are different in our day that in the Old Testament days.  Yet, the author of Hebrews quotes David from the Book of Psalms by saying, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”  He actually uses the quote twice in two different chapters, so the principle of hearing God’s voice must be as important for us as it was for the Biblical heroes of our faith.

So how do we hear the voice of God?  Is there a magical formula that must be followed?  What if we do the same thing that we had done the last time we heard God’s voice, but we do not hear it this time?

Hearing God’s voice comes from having an intimate relationship with God on a daily basis.  God speaks to us through His word as well as through other believers along with some circumstances.  God primarily speaks through His Spirit which resides in us using, as Dr. McManus describes, a voice that sounds much like our own.  God’s instruction will always line up with the truth of His Word and the principles of who He is.  God can never contradict Himself.  God is speaking to us.  Are we listening?  When we begin to ignore the Voice of God is when our hearts begin to harden.  I pray that today you have a soft, pliable heart for God to speak to and then to use.

Psalms 95:7-9 (NASB)
7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work.

Being Found Guilty

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My favorite television programming has to be shows such as Bones, NCIS and Numbers.  I enjoy watching how the characters can take certain aspects of the crime scene and decide how the crime took place and who committed the crime.  The investigators look at many different aspects and angles of the situation so they can come to the correct conclusion.  These investigators are looking for the minutest detail that might help with the final determination of the facts of each case.  The same was true in the movie, Sherlock Holmes.  I will not go into the details of the movie, in case you have not seen it, but Holmes finds follows clues that the average person would be oblivious to.  Even his partner, Dr. Watson, does not see the same things that Holmes sees.  It truly creates a very intriguing movie.

While I am watching these programs or movies, I can get caught up with trying to solve the case with the investigators.  I also can get caught up with the sub-plots that are going on along the way of the show.  I want Bones and Boothe to get together.  I enjoy watching Tony and McGee going back and forth with their different pranks.  I love the quirkiness of Abby in her lab.  I even like the tension of the brothers working together to solve the crimes as their dad attempts to hold the family somewhat together.  Each episode adds to the different sub-plots which maintains the interest in the show.

I am not writing today so that you would become fans of the same type of programs that I spend my time watching.  The reason that I bring out these programs is that each one is based on finding the facts of a crime and the different ways each set of characters goes about doing that.  Charlie looks at numbers while others look for clues in the crime scene itself while others look at the body of the victim.  Some other programs attempt to re-create the thought patterns of the criminals in order to solve the crime.  Each one comes to a conclusion based on the facts found in the evidence.

I want us to think about the facts or the evidence of our lives.  I realize that only God will be our judge when it is all said and done.  I know that the only way for us to stand before our Judge is through His Son, our advocate.  But the Bible tells us that we are to be the salt of the earth as well as light to the world.  Are we?  How can we tell?

I know over the years I have had people come up to me and let me know that they had been watching me.  They would tell me that I had been an inspiration to them, even though I had no idea that anyone was paying attention to my life or how I was living my life.  I even had one lady stop me in the parking lot of a store and ask me if I was a Christian.  When I said “yes,” she told me that I was walking like one.  Now I am not bragging at this point.  I do not ever want anyone to see me, but I do want people to see what God is doing in me.  You see, just as in the programs on TV, the facts of our lives never lie.  Do we act according to God’s Word or do we act like everyone else?  Is it obvious that we are disciples of Jesus by the fruit that we bear?  The word disciple means to be a student or a learner, much like an apprentice.  Our apprenticeship with Christ should make us look more like Him in our everyday life.

Discipleship is anything that causes what is believed in the heart to have demonstrable consequences in our daily life. (Eugene Peterson)

I would encourage you today to take an inventory of your life.  Would you consider yourself to be a Christian?  How do other people see you?  Are the facts of your life enough to convict you as born-again believer in Christ?

Again, I know that God is the only judge that counts.  I just believe that we are to live our lives in such a way that others will be able to tell to whom we belong.

John 13:35 (NLT)
35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

John 15:8 (NLT)
8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

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